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.\" Process this file with
.\" groff -man -Tascii cli.1
.\"
.TH CLI 1 "January 2021" "CLI 1.2.0-b.8"
.SH NAME
cli \- command line interface compiler for C++
.\"
.\"
.\"
.\"--------------------------------------------------------------------
.SH SYNOPSIS
.\"--------------------------------------------------------------------
.B cli
.B [
.I options
.B ]
.I file
.\"
.\"
.\"
.\"--------------------------------------------------------------------
.SH DESCRIPTION
.\"--------------------------------------------------------------------
.B cli
generates C++ implementation and documentation in various formats for a
command line interface defined in the CLI language. For an input file in
the form
.B name.cli
the following is generated. By default or if the
.B --generate-cxx
option is specified, the following C++ files are generated:
.B name.hxx
(header file),
.B name.ixx
(inline file, generated unless the
.B --suppress-inline
option is specified), and
.B name.cxx (source file).
If the
.B --generate-html
option is specified, then the
.B name.html
HTML documentation file is generated. If the
.B --generate-man
option is specified, then the
.B name.1
man page file is generated. When
.B --generate-html
or
.B --generate-man
is specified, the
.B --stdout
option can be used to redirect the output to STDOUT instead of a file.
.\"
.\"
.\"
.\"--------------------------------------------------------------------
.SH OPTIONS
.\"--------------------------------------------------------------------
.IP "\fB--help\fR"
Print usage information and exit\.
.IP "\fB--version\fR"
Print version and exit\.
.IP "\fB--include-path\fR|\fB-I\fR \fIdir\fR"
Search \fIdir\fR for bracket-included (\fB<>\fR) options files\.
.IP "\fB--output-dir\fR|\fB-o\fR \fIdir\fR"
Write the generated files to \fIdir\fR instead of the current directory\.
.IP "\fB--std\fR \fIversion\fR"
Specify the C++ standard that should be used during compilation\. Valid values
are \fBc++98\fR (default), \fBc++11\fR, and \fBc++14\fR\.
.IP "\fB--generate-modifier\fR"
Generate option value modifiers in addition to accessors\.
.IP "\fB--generate-specifier\fR"
Generate functions for determining whether the option was specified on the
command line\.
.IP "\fB--generate-parse\fR"
Generate \fBparse()\fR functions instead of parsing constructors\. This is
primarily useful for being able to parse into an already initialized options
class instance, for example, to implement option appending/overriding\.
.IP "\fB--generate-merge\fR"
Generate \fBmerge()\fR functions\. This is primarily useful for being able to
merge several already parsed options class instances, for example, to
implement option appending/overriding\. Note that this option forces
\fB--generate-specifier\fR\.
.IP "\fB--generate-description\fR"
Generate the option description list that can be examined at runtime\.
.IP "\fB--generate-file-scanner\fR"
Generate the \fBargv_file_scanner\fR implementation\. This scanner is capable
of reading command line arguments from the \fBargv\fR array as well as files
specified with command line options\.
.IP "\fB--generate-vector-scanner\fR"
Generate the \fBvector_scanner\fR implementation\. This scanner is capable of
reading command line arguments from \fBvector<string>\fR\.
.IP "\fB--generate-group-scanner\fR"
Generate the \fBgroup_scanner\fR implementation\. This scanner supports
grouping of arguments (usually options) to apply only to a certain argument\.

Groups can be specified before (leading) and/or after (trailing) the argument
they apply to\. A leading group starts with '\fB{\fR' and ends with '\fB}+\fR'
while a trailing group starts with '\fB+{\fR' and ends with '\fB}\fR'\. For
example:

.nf
{ --foo --bar }+ arg   # 'arg' with '--foo' '--bar'
arg +{ fox=1 baz=2 }   # 'arg' with 'fox=1' 'baz=2'
.fi

Multiple leading and/or trailing groups can be specified for the same
argument\. For example:

.nf
{ -f }+ { -b }+ arg +{ f=1 } +{ b=2 } # 'arg' with '-f' 'b' 'f=1' 'b=2'
.fi

The group applies to a single argument only unless multiple arguments are
themselves grouped with '\fB{\fR' and '\fB}\fR'\. For example:

.nf
{ --foo }+ arg1  arg2 +{ --bar }      # 'arg1' with '--foo'
                                      # 'arg2' with '--bar'

{ --foo }+ { arg1  arg2 } +{ --bar }  # 'arg1' with '--foo' '--bar'
                                      # 'arg2' with '--foo' '--bar'
.fi

The group separators ('\fB{\fR', '\fB}+'\fR, etc) must be separate command
line arguments\. In particular, they must not be adjacent either to the
arguments inside the group nor to the argument they apply to\. All such cases
will be treated as ordinary arguments\. For example:

.nf
{--foo}+ arg   # '{--foo}+' \.\.\.
arg+{ --foo }  # 'arg+{' \.\.\.
.fi

If one of the group separators needs to be specified as an argument verbatim,
then it must be escaped with '\fB\e\fR'\. For example:

.nf
}             # error: unexpected group separator
}x            # '}x'
\\}            # '}'
{ \\}+ }+ arg  # 'arg' with '}+'
.fi
.IP "\fB--suppress-inline\fR"
Generate all functions non-inline\. By default simple functions are made
inline\. This option suppresses creation of the inline file\.
.IP "\fB--suppress-cli\fR"
Do not generate the CLI support types (scanners, parser, etc)\. Normally, the
support types are generated unless another \fB\.cli\fR was included, in which
case the support types are expected to be provided by its generated code\.
.IP "\fB--cli-namespace\fR \fIns\fR"
Generate the CLI support types in the \fIns\fR namespace (\fBcli\fR by
default)\. The namespace can be nested, for example \fBdetails::cli\fR\. If
the namespace is empty, then the support types are generated in the global
namespace\.
.IP "\fB--ostream-type\fR \fItype\fR"
Output stream type instead of the default \fBstd::ostream\fR that should be
used to print usage and exception information\.
.IP "\fB--generate-cxx\fR"
Generate C++ code\. If neither \fB--generate-man\fR, \fB--generate-html\fR,
nor \fB--generate-txt\fR is specified, this mode is assumed by default\.
.IP "\fB--generate-man\fR"
Generate documentation in the man page format\.
.IP "\fB--generate-html\fR"
Generate documentation in the HTML format\.
.IP "\fB--generate-txt\fR"
Generate documentation in the plain text format, similar to usage\.
.IP "\fB--stdout\fR"
Write output to STDOUT instead of a file\. This option is not valid when
generating C++ code and is normally used to combine generated documentation
for several option classes in a single file\.
.IP "\fB--suppress-undocumented\fR"
Suppress the generation of documentation entries for undocumented options\.
.IP "\fB--suppress-usage\fR"
Suppress the generation of the usage printing code\.
.IP "\fB--long-usage\fR"
If no short documentation string is provided, use the complete long
documentation string in usage\. By default, in this situation only the first
sentence from the long string is used\.
.IP "\fB--short-usage\fR"
If specified together with \fB--long-usage\fR, generate both short and long
usage versions\. In this mode, the long usage printing function is called
\fBprint_long_usage()\fR and in its implementation the long documentation
string is always used, even if the short version is provided\.
.IP "\fB--page-usage\fR \fIname\fR"
Generate the combined usage printing code for the entire page\. Specifically,
this will include all the namespace-level documentation as well as usage for
all the options classes printed in the order they are defined in the main
translation unit (documentation/classes from included units are ignored except
for base classes)\.

The \fIname\fR argument is used as a prefix to form the name of the usage
printing function\. It can include the namespace qualification as well as
documentation variable expansion, for example:

.nf
--page-usage print_         # print_usage() in global namespace
--page-usage app::print_    # print_usage() in app namespace
--page-usage print_$name$_  # print_foo_usage() if name is foo
.fi

If both \fB--long-usage\fR and \fB--short-usage\fR options are specified, then
the long usage function has the \fB*long_usage()\fR suffix\.
.IP "\fB--option-length\fR \fIlen\fR"
Indent option descriptions \fIlen\fR characters when printing usage\. This is
useful when you have multiple options classes, potentially in separate files,
and would like their usage to have the same indentation level\.
.IP "\fB--ascii-tree\fR"
Convert UTF-8 \fBtree(1)\fR output to ASCII\. Specifically, box-drawing
characters used in the \fB--charset=UTF-8\fR output are replaced with ASCII
characters used in the --charset=ASCII\fR output\.
.IP "\fB--ansi-color\fR"
Use ANSI color escape sequences when printing usage\. By "color" we really
only mean the bold and underline modifiers\. Note that Windows console does
not recognize ANSI escape sequences and will display them as garbage\.
However, if you pipe such output through \fBless(1)\fR, it will display them
correctly\.
.IP "\fB--exclude-base\fR"
Exclude base class information from usage and documentation\.
.IP "\fB--include-base-last\fR"
Include base class information after derived for usage and documentation\. By
default, base classes are included first\.
.IP "\fB--class-doc\fR \fIname\fR=\fIkind\fR"
Specify the documentation \fIkind\fR that should be used for the options class
\fIname\fR\. The \fIname\fR value should be a fully-qualified class name, for
example, \fBapp::options\fR\. The \fIkind\fR value can be \fBshort\fR,
\fBlong\fR, \fBexclude\fR, or \fBexclude-base\fR\. If the value is
\fBexclude\fR, then the class documentation is excluded from usage and
man/HTML/text output\. If it is \fBexclude-base\fR, then it is only excluded
when used as a base\. For usage, the \fBshort\fR and \fBlong\fR values
determine which usage function will be called when the class is used as base
or as part of the page usage (see \fB--page-usage\fR)\. For man/HTML/text,
these values determine which documentation strings are used in the output\.
.IP "\fB--class\fR \fIname\fR"
Generate the man page, HTML, or text documentation only for the options class
\fIname\fR\. The \fIname\fR value should be a fully-qualified options class
name, for example, \fBapp::options\fR\. To generate documentation for multiple
classes, repeat this option and the documentation will be produced in the
order specified\. This functionality is useful if you need to assemble
documentation from multiple classes in a specific order or to insert custom
documentation between options belonging to different classes\.
.IP "\fB--docvar\fR|\fB-v\fR \fIname\fR=\fIval\fR"
Set documentation variable \fIname\fR to the value \fIval\fR\. Documentation
variables can be substituted in prologues and epilogues (see
\fB--*-prologue*\fR and \fB--*-epilogue*\fR options) using the
\fB$\fR\fIname\fR\fB$\fR expansion syntax (use \fB$$\fR to escape expansion)\.
They can also be defined in \fB\.cli\fR files using the
\&"\e\fIname\fR=\fIval\fR"\fR syntax\.
.IP "\fB--link-regex\fR \fIregex\fR"
Add \fIregex\fR to the list of regular expressions used to transform link
targets in the generated documentation\. The argument to this option is a
Perl-like regular expression in the form
\fB/\fR\fIpattern\fR\fB/\fR\fIreplacement\fR\fB/\fR\fR\. Any character can be
used as a delimiter instead of '\fB/\fR' and the delimiter can be escaped
inside \fIpattern\fR and \fIreplacement\fR with a backslash (\fB\e\fR)\. You
can specify multiple regular expressions by repeating this option\. All the
regular expressions are tried in the order specified and the first expression
that matches is used\. Use the \fB--link-regex-trace\fR option to debug link
transformation\.
.IP "\fB--link-regex-trace\fR"
Trace the process of applying regular expressions specified with the
\fB--link-regex\fR option\. Use this option to find out why your regular
expressions don't do what you expected them to do\.
.IP "\fB--html-heading-map\fR \fIc\fR=\fIh\fR"
Map CLI heading \fIc\fR (valid values: '\fBH\fR', '\fB0\fR', '\fB1\fR',
\&'\fBh\fR', and '\fB2\fR') to HTML heading \fIh\fR (for example, '\fBh1\fR',
\&'\fBh2\fR', etc)\.
.IP "\fB--omit-link-check\fR"
Don't check that local fragment link references (\el{#ref \.\.\.}) resolve to
ids\.
.IP "\fB--hxx-prologue\fR \fItext\fR"
Insert \fItext\fR at the beginning of the generated C++ header file\.
.IP "\fB--ixx-prologue\fR \fItext\fR"
Insert \fItext\fR at the beginning of the generated C++ inline file\.
.IP "\fB--cxx-prologue\fR \fItext\fR"
Insert \fItext\fR at the beginning of the generated C++ source file\.
.IP "\fB--man-prologue\fR \fItext\fR"
Insert \fItext\fR at the beginning of the generated man page file\.
.IP "\fB--html-prologue\fR \fItext\fR"
Insert \fItext\fR at the beginning of the generated HTML file\.
.IP "\fB--txt-prologue\fR \fItext\fR"
Insert \fItext\fR at the beginning of the generated text file\.
.IP "\fB--hxx-epilogue\fR \fItext\fR"
Insert \fItext\fR at the end of the generated C++ header file\.
.IP "\fB--ixx-epilogue\fR \fItext\fR"
Insert \fItext\fR at the end of the generated C++ inline file\.
.IP "\fB--cxx-epilogue\fR \fItext\fR"
Insert \fItext\fR at the end of the generated C++ source file\.
.IP "\fB--man-epilogue\fR \fItext\fR"
Insert \fItext\fR at the end of the generated man page file\.
.IP "\fB--html-epilogue\fR \fItext\fR"
Insert \fItext\fR at the end of the generated HTML file\.
.IP "\fB--txt-epilogue\fR \fItext\fR"
Insert \fItext\fR at the end of the generated text file\.
.IP "\fB--hxx-prologue-file\fR \fIfile\fR"
Insert the content of \fIfile\fR at the beginning of the generated C++ header
file\.
.IP "\fB--ixx-prologue-file\fR \fIfile\fR"
Insert the content of \fIfile\fR at the beginning of the generated C++ inline
file\.
.IP "\fB--cxx-prologue-file\fR \fIfile\fR"
Insert the content of \fIfile\fR at the beginning of the generated C++ source
file\.
.IP "\fB--man-prologue-file\fR \fIfile\fR"
Insert the content of \fIfile\fR at the beginning of the generated man page
file\.
.IP "\fB--html-prologue-file\fR \fIfile\fR"
Insert the content of \fIfile\fR at the beginning of the generated HTML file\.
.IP "\fB--txt-prologue-file\fR \fIfile\fR"
Insert the content of \fIfile\fR at the beginning of the generated text file\.
.IP "\fB--hxx-epilogue-file\fR \fIfile\fR"
Insert the content of \fIfile\fR at the end of the generated C++ header file\.
.IP "\fB--ixx-epilogue-file\fR \fIfile\fR"
Insert the content of \fIfile\fR at the end of the generated C++ inline file\.
.IP "\fB--cxx-epilogue-file\fR \fIfile\fR"
Insert the content of \fIfile\fR at the end of the generated C++ source file\.
.IP "\fB--man-epilogue-file\fR \fIfile\fR"
Insert the content of \fIfile\fR at the end of the generated man page file\.
.IP "\fB--html-epilogue-file\fR \fIfile\fR"
Insert the content of \fIfile\fR at the end of the generated HTML file\.
.IP "\fB--txt-epilogue-file\fR \fIfile\fR"
Insert the content of \fIfile\fR at the end of the generated text file\.
.IP "\fB--output-prefix\fR \fIprefix\fR"
Add \fIprefix\fR at the beginning of the generated output file name(s)\.
.IP "\fB--output-suffix\fR \fIsuffix\fR"
Add \fIsuffix\fR at the end of the generated output file name(s)\. Note that
it is added before any file type-specific suffixes; see \fB--*-suffix\fR
below\.
.IP "\fB--hxx-suffix\fR \fIsuffix\fR"
Use \fIsuffix\fR instead of the default \fB\.hxx\fR to construct the name of
the generated header file\.
.IP "\fB--ixx-suffix\fR \fIsuffix\fR"
Use \fIsuffix\fR instead of the default \fB\.ixx\fR to construct the name of
the generated inline file\.
.IP "\fB--cxx-suffix\fR \fIsuffix\fR"
Use \fIsuffix\fR instead of the default \fB\.cxx\fR to construct the name of
the generated source file\.
.IP "\fB--man-suffix\fR \fIsuffix\fR"
Use \fIsuffix\fR instead of the default \fB\.1\fR to construct the name of the
generated man page file\.
.IP "\fB--html-suffix\fR \fIsuffix\fR"
Use \fIsuffix\fR instead of the default \fB\.html\fR to construct the name of
the generated HTML file\.
.IP "\fB--txt-suffix\fR \fIsuffix\fR"
Use \fIsuffix\fR instead of the default \fB\.txt\fR to construct the name of
the generated text file\.
.IP "\fB--option-prefix\fR \fIprefix\fR"
Use \fIprefix\fR instead of the default '\fB-\fR' as an option prefix\.
Unknown command line arguments that start with this prefix are treated as
unknown options\. If you set the option prefix to the empty value, then all
the unknown command line arguments will be treated as program arguments\.
.IP "\fB--option-separator\fR \fIsep\fR"
Use \fIsep\fR instead of the default '\fB--\fR' as an optional separator
between options and arguments\. All the command line arguments that are parsed
after this separator are treated as program arguments\. Set the option
separator to the empty value if you don't want this functionality\.
.IP "\fB--keep-separator\fR"
Leave the option separator in the scanner\. This is primarily useful for
incremental option parsing\.
.IP "\fB--no-combined-flags\fR"
Disable support for combining multiple single-character flags into a single
argument (the \fB-xyz\fR form that is equivalent to \fB-x\fR \fB-y\fR
\fB-z\fR)\. An argument is considered a combination of flags if it starts with
a single option prefix (\fB--option-prefix\fR) and only contains letters and
digits\. Note that an option with a value may not be part of such a
combination, not even if it is specified last\.
.IP "\fB--no-combined-values\fR"
Disable support for combining an option and its value into a single argument
with the assignment sign (the \fIoption\fR\fB=\fR\fIvalue\fR\fR form)\. This
functionality requires a non-empty option prefix (\fB--option-prefix\fR)\.
.IP "\fB--include-with-brackets\fR"
Use angle brackets (\fB<>\fR) instead of quotes (\fB""\fR) in the generated
\fB#include\fR directives\.
.IP "\fB--include-prefix\fR \fIprefix\fR"
Add \fIprefix\fR to the generated \fB#include\fR directive paths\.
.IP "\fB--guard-prefix\fR \fIprefix\fR"
Add \fIprefix\fR to the generated header inclusion guards\. The prefix is
transformed to upper case and characters that are illegal in a preprocessor
macro name are replaced with underscores\.
.IP "\fB--reserved-name\fR \fIname\fR=\fIrep\fR"
Add \fIname\fR with an optional \fIrep\fR replacement to the list of names
that should not be used as identifiers\. If provided, the replacement name is
used instead\. All C++ keywords are already in this list\.
.IP "\fB--options-file\fR \fIfile\fR"
Read additional options from \fIfile\fR\. Each option should appear on a
separate line optionally followed by space or equal sign (\fB=\fR) and an
option value\. Empty lines and lines starting with \fB#\fR are ignored\.
Option values can be enclosed in double (\fB"\fR) or single (\fB'\fR) quotes
to preserve leading and trailing whitespaces as well as to specify empty
values\. If the value itself contains trailing or leading quotes, enclose it
with an extra pair of quotes, for example \fB'"x"'\fR\. Non-leading and
non-trailing quotes are interpreted as being part of the option value\.

The semantics of providing options in a file is equivalent to providing the
same set of options in the same order on the command line at the point where
the \fB--options-file\fR option is specified except that the shell escaping
and quoting is not required\. Repeat this option to specify more than one
options file\.
.\"
.\" DIAGNOSTICS
.\"
.SH DIAGNOSTICS
If the input file is not a valid CLI definition,
.B cli
will issue diagnostic messages to STDERR and exit with non-zero exit code.
.\"
.\" BUGS
.\"
.SH BUGS
Send bug reports to the cli-users@codesynthesis.com mailing list.
.\"
.\" COPYRIGHT
.\"
.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2009-2021 Code Synthesis Tools CC.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under
the terms of the MIT License. Copy of this license can be obtained from
http://www.codesynthesis.com/licenses/mit.txt